VMware is integrating performance, capacity and configuration management with the launch of vCenter Operations, in an effort to give users more control over growing virtualized IT infrastructures, the company said on Tuesday.

Virtualization has evolved into a more strategic technology for business critical applications, including databases and e-mail, which is good for vendors such as VMware. But it also puts more pressure on them to provide more complete management platforms. Today, more and more companies are concerned about their ability to manage their virtualized infrastructures, according to Lionel Cavalliere, product marketing manager at VMware in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

VMware wants to address some of those concerns with vCenter Operations, which includes tools for performance, capacity and configuration management, and is based on a mixture of acquired software and products developed in-house. The vCenter Operations software comes in three versions: Standard, Advanced and Enterprise.

The Standard package is based on software from Integrien, which VMware acquired last year and has been improved with better hooks into the vCenter management platform. The result will make it easier for administrators to view and draw conclusions from performance data, and to be more proactive. In the past, data was spread across multiple locations, and it was difficult for administrators to get an overall view, Cavalliere said.

The Advanced package adds capacity management with vCenter Capacity IQ, which will still be available as a separate product.

The Enterprise package combines Standard and Capacity IQ with vCenter Configuration Manager, which adds the possibility to also manage physical environments, storage and network devices.

Cavalliere underscores that this is only the first iteration of vCenter, and going forward the different parts of Operations will be more integrated with each other, he said.

All three versions will be available late in the first quarter with prices starting at US$50 per virtual machines for the Standard package, which is capped at 500 virtual machines. Pricing for the Advanced and Enterprise packages was not announced.

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